UNTITLED 1946

This untitled watercolor was made by Alexander Calder in 1946, probably somewhere in Paris. It’s pretty simple, right? Washes of yellow make a kind of dreamy sky, while black amoeba-like shapes float around in the foreground. It’s funny to see Calder, who is best known for his big, clanky mobiles, working so intimately here on paper. I can imagine him in his studio, maybe taking a break from engineering metal sculptures, and instead letting the ink bleed across the page. The black shapes look like they're in motion, kind of wiggling and bumping into each other. There are a few white gaps between the forms; they feel like breathing spaces. I wonder if he was thinking about his sculptures when he made this? I love how he's using the lightness of watercolor to play with weight and gravity. It makes me think about how all artists are always in conversation with each other across time, messing around and building on what’s come before.